Birth injury claims and Florida’s compensation plan

Florida’s birth-related neurological injury compensation plan pays on a no-fault basis (opens in a new tab) for an injury to the brain or spinal cord of a live infant, caused by oxygen deprivation or mechanical injury (opens in a new tab) during labor, delivery or resuscitation right after delivery in a hospital, that leaves the infant permanently and substantially impaired mentally and physically.

Among its further conditions are a minimum birth weight and obstetrical services delivered by a participating physician, or by a certified nurse midwife in a teaching hospital supervised by one (opens in a new tab). The weight is at least 2,500 grams at birth, or at least 2,000 grams in a multiple gestation (opens in a new tab). The definition applies to live births only and does not include disability or death caused by genetic or congenital abnormality (opens in a new tab).

Coverage turns on the physician rather than the hospital. A participating physician is one who, at the time of the injury, had paid or was exempted from paying the plan’s assessment for the year in which the injury occurred (opens in a new tab).

The Florida Supreme Court held in 2011 that the oxygen deprivation and the brain injury it causes must occur during labor, delivery or resuscitation in the immediate postdelivery period (opens in a new tab).

For a covered injury the plan excludes all other rights and remedies against any person or entity directly involved with the labor, delivery or immediate postdelivery resuscitation (opens in a new tab), with one statutory exception. That exception is a suit supported by clear and convincing evidence of bad faith or malicious purpose or willful and wanton disregard of human rights, safety, or property (opens in a new tab), filed before and in place of payment from the plan.

An award under the plan pays actual expenses incurred since the date of birth for medically necessary and reasonable care (opens in a new tab), with future expenses paid as incurred (opens in a new tab). It does not pay for items or services the child has received, or is entitled to receive, under state or federal law or from private insurance (opens in a new tab).

The plan provides a sum for the parents or legal guardians, which may not exceed $250,000 beginning on January 1, 2021, with the maximum rising 3 percent each January 1 (opens in a new tab). The association that governs the plan, known as NICA, gave $281,377.20 as the amount for 2025 (opens in a new tab), the newest on its site on October 13, 2026.

The Florida Supreme Court held in 1997 that, to invoke the plan as a patient’s exclusive remedy, providers must, when practicable, give notice of their participation a reasonable time prior to delivery (opens in a new tab).

Notice is judged provider by provider. The Florida Supreme Court held in 2010 that both participating physicians and hospitals with participating physicians on staff must give obstetrical patients notice of their participation in the plan (opens in a new tab), and that if either fails to, the family can accept the plan’s remedies and forgo any civil suit, or sue only the one who failed to give notice and forgo the plan’s remedies (opens in a new tab).

The statute excuses notice when the patient has an emergency medical condition or when notice is not practicable (opens in a new tab). A patient’s signature acknowledging receipt of the notice form raises a rebuttable presumption that the notice requirements have been met (opens in a new tab).

Orlando Health lists Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies as a delivery location (opens in a new tab), UCF Lake Nona Hospital says it is home to a Family Birthing Unit (opens in a new tab), and AdventHealth’s mother and baby care page for AdventHealth Orlando, formerly Florida Hospital Orlando (opens in a new tab) names AdventHealth for Women. This is not a complete list for the county.

On October 13, 2026 a search of the State’s facility locator, with the facility type set to Hospital and the county set to Orange, listed 22 hospitals and none under the Winnie Palmer name (opens in a new tab). The one record that carries the Palmer name is described on the page about children’s hospital care.

The Florida Department of Health’s birth data, with the county set to Orange, show 16,425 live births to Orange County residents in 2024 (opens in a new tab), counted by the mother’s county of residence. That is a different measure from deliveries at Orange County hospitals.

A claim to the plan starts outside the courts, with a petition filed with the Division of Administrative Hearings (opens in a new tab), and by default the hearing is held in the county where the injury occurred (opens in a new tab).

Coverage is decided by an administrative law judge who has exclusive jurisdiction (opens in a new tab), and a claim to the plan is barred if filed more than 5 years after the birth (opens in a new tab). No civil action may be brought until the judge has made the required determinations (opens in a new tab).

If the judge decides the plan does not cover a claim, that does not stop the family from pursuing any and all civil remedies available under common law and statutory law (opens in a new tab). That lawsuit would generally go to the circuit court described on the Orange County courts page.